ORIGIN OF DURGA AS DEITY

Origins of Durga as a Deity

Traces of origin of Durga as a deity have been found in wild regions such as the Vindhya Mountains and with old tribes such as the Sabaras and Pulindas. Probably these roots associate her with the non-Aryan habits of drinking alcohol and non-vegeterianism. Durga is first mentioned in the Mahabharata as a virgin delighting in wine, flesh, and animal sacrifice. Durga's association with agriculture, especially in her major festival, the Durga Puja, may arise from her early origins. She is thought to be the power inherent in the growth of crops and in all vegetation.

The origin of goddess Durga can be, very strangely, traced back to the Mesopotamian culture. The depictions and form of goddess Ishtar, worshipped in Mesopotamia, hold a striking resemblance to those of goddess Durga in Hindu religious texts. Mesopotamia of ancient times is an area, which is mostly covered by present day Iraq. The goddess Ishtar was worshipped by the Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and even Romans and Egyptians, since about 2000 B.C. and probably even before that, since an epic called the descent of Ishtar was already traced to an old tale of that time. Ishtar is described as an independent goddess who roamed the forests and deserts at will and was a constant seeker of battle. She was depicted as riding a lion and had multiple arms holding many weapons. She was thought to have had many lovers from all sorts of backgrounds and probably this was seen as a probable cause of her immense popularity with the common man of those days since he preferred her raw

energy to pretensions and pomposity often associated with most other gods. This feeling of her transcending class division was emphasized by the wide-ranging profile of lovers from all social classes.

Widespread worship of goddess Durga is found in texts of the 4th and 7th centuries A.D., with the resurgence of goddess worship during those times. She is the only female deity after whom an entire Upanisad is named. At the close of the Vedic era there were apparently several goddesses acknowledged as wives of Shiva while other goddesses were worshiped by different castes throughout India. These diverse deities eventually coalesced into the one great goddess, Mahadevi, whose ultimate origin may have been the Mother Goddess of the Indus valley civilization. In the ancient Indus Valley civilization it is obvious that the worship of female deities had a very prominent place in society. The many seals and figurines found provide evidence for the apparently highly important place of female deities in the religion of the time. There is evidence of a Mother or Earth goddess cult being in existence in the period.